Security screens are often found in automobiles having a rear cargo storage area, such as sport utility vehicles. Such screens are typically mounted at the forward end of the rear cargo area at an elevated position to extend from the mounting to a fastening device at the rearward end of the rear cargo area to provide a cover for the rear cargo area. Such known screens are wound into a spring-loaded cylinder to be retractable into the cylinder in a compact storage configuration, or extended from the cylinder into a deployed configuration. Once disconnected from the fastening device, which is typically a slot molded into the sidewall of the rear cargo area, the spring-loaded cylinder retracts the screen into the storage configuration.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,986, granted to Holger Seel on Feb. 26, 2002, the rear cargo security screen is also utilized as a barrier between the front passenger compartment and the rear cargo area by orienting the blind portion of the apparatus into a vertical orientation and attached to a mounting device adjacent the ceiling of the vehicle. The housing for the security screen apparatus is positioned at the conventional position at an elevated forward part of the rear cargo area.
In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0090119, filed by Brian Batemen and published May 15, 2003, the vertically oriented barrier is also secured to two locations on the roof of the vehicle to divide the rear cargo area from the front passenger compartment. Similarly, a load restraining net is mounted to the rear seat of a vehicle in U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,463, granted on Oct. 16, 2001, to Donal Moore, et al. Different forms of vertically oriented divider barriers separating the front passenger compartment from the rear cargo area are shown in Great Britain Application Publication No. 2,248,806, filed by Stanley Sharpe and published on Apr. 22, 1992, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,814, granted to Alain Beaudet on May 15, 1990.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,358, issued to Joseph Wieczorek on Sep. 7, 1999, the security screen housing is oriented in a longitudinal manner along one side of the rear cargo area and extended transversely, instead of longitudinally, to provide an elevated privacy screen over the rear cargo area. Wieczorek does not teach a relocation of the housing to a lower central location where the extendible blind can be vertically extended to provide a longitudinal divider for the rear cargo area.
A multi-section security screen apparatus is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,674, issued to James White on Mar. 5, 1985. A secondary section drops vertically as the primary section of the blind is extended generally horizontally across an upper section of the rear cargo area. The secondary section is not secured, but merely drapes down from the housing when the primary section is extended and retracts with the primary section into the housing for storage.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,186, granted to Daniel Torres on Apr. 10, 2001, the housing of the security screen is formed with a rearward panel to help enclose the gap between the conventional housing, the extendible shade and the rear seat. Panels forming the top surfaces of trays allowing liquid to pass from objects on top of the panels into the trays below the panels are depicted in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0015531, filed by Sangwon Choi and published on Jan. 23, 2003. The panels in the Choi publication are pivotally mounted to permit access to the tray immediately beneath the panel.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a cargo restraint and security screen that would provide multiple uses, other than as an elevated horizontal privacy screen and/or a vertical barrier device between the front passenger compartment and the rear cargo area, to be selectively deployed within the rear cargo area of the vehicle.